cosmic-epoch
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pop-os
Touchpad: Text selection does not auto-scroll when dragging past the screen edge
Describe the bug When selecting text using the laptop’s touchpad, the text selection stops once my finger reaches the physical edge of the touchpad. At that point, the cursor stops moving on screen, so it never reaches the top or bottom edge of the window to trigger auto-scroll.
The issue is not that auto-scroll doesn’t work — it’s that the cursor can’t physically reach the screen edge using the touchpad alone. This makes it impossible to extend a text selection beyond the current view.
Using an external mouse works fine, as the pointer can continue to move and trigger auto-scrolling at the window edges.
To Reproduce
- Steps to reproduce the behavior:
- Open any app or document that requires scrolling (e.g. browser, text editor).
- Double-tap and hold (or click and hold) with the touchpad to start text selection.
- Drag your finger until it reaches the physical edge of the touchpad.
- Observe that the pointer stops moving before it reaches the screen edge.
- The selection cannot extend further.
Expected behavior The pointer should continue to move even when the finger reaches the physical edge of the touchpad — for example, by implementing touchpad edge motion (like in some other Linux distros). This would allow auto-scrolling to occur and make text selection smoother.
Actual behaviour The cursor stops moving as soon as the finger reaches the physical edge of the touchpad. Because of this, the pointer never reaches the screen edge, so auto-scrolling doesn’t get triggered — giving the impression that selection stops abruptly.
Screenshots
Desktop (please complete the following information):
- OS: Pop!_OS 24.04
Additional context
Maybe related to https://github.com/pop-os/cosmic-comp/issues/981. A good way to test would be to scroll manually a bit in the non-working direction, and then try doing this with the top or left screen edge.
Maybe related to pop-os/cosmic-comp#981. A good way to test would be to scroll manually a bit in the non-working direction, and then try doing this with the top or left screen edge.
i don't understand what that means. do you have this issue with touch pad? If, could you test this.
Actually, ignore that, since it seems to work fine with a mouse. I don't have a laptop with COSMIC installed currently, so I can't test.
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/e10f4bca-1dd5-4193-b2da-11ab46b31203
works fine for me!
@parth-panara-1204, @git-f0x After testing again, I realized my initial description was slightly inaccurate. The issue is not that the cursor stops when it reaches the screen edge — that part works correctly.
The real problem is that the touchpad itself stops sending movement when my finger reaches its physical edge, so the pointer never actually reaches the edge of the screen to trigger auto-scrolling.
In other words, the limitation is with touchpad motion range rather than the scrolling behavior itself.
i remember that windows or maybe kde had this feature, where if i cant drag my pointer any further, the pointer will continue on that direction so long as i hold my finger.
is this what you're trying to say?
i remember that windows or maybe kde had this feature, where if i cant drag my pointer any further, the pointer will continue on that direction so long as i hold my finger.
is this what you're trying to say?
yes, if i cant drag my pointer any further because my finger reached the end of the touch-pad. The pointer will continue on that direction as long as i hold my finger. i'am used to this behaviour in windows.
i guess in that case, this should be tagged "enhancement" rather than "bug"
i guess in that case, this should be tagged "enhancement" rather than "bug"
You're right — that makes sense. I’ve updated this to be a feature request. Thanks for pointing that out!
Could someone please tag this as enhancement instead of bug? Thanks!
we don't have privilege to do that! you can change label by clicking on the "Labels" in the right side of all the comments.